get to know the chinese

The Chinese has always been inscrutable. Unlike the Indians,we do not have the equivalent of V S Naipaul, Deepak Chopra, Suketu Mehta or Amartya Sen, etc, to enlighten the World about the Chinese. This Blog is an attempt to strip our Chinese inscrutability with help from friends around the Globe.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Not that I want to provoke World War III, but there are actively ongoing nefarious activities and agendas of Wasp's Demons to subtly subvert the March of Progress of the Chinese in our newfound confidence and momentum in the 21st Century that need diligent monitoring and containment, if this March is not to be derailed or impeded.

I desire very much to intensely focus on the splendid results of the Chinese/Wasp collaborations throughout the world and planned to deal first with the remarkable merits of the Wasp's Angels that had contributed directly and/or acted as invaluable catalysts to Chinese Advancement.

But, the insidious "forces" of the Demons constantly raising their ugly heads convinced me that these evil influences must always be kept in close cognisant, even as we savour the goodness of the Angels. As a Chinese, more so a naked one, the fundamental principles of "Ying-and-Yang" embedded in me dictates that naturally I would adopt this stance.

Let us map out some of the contours of these demonic subterfuges. October 1st this year marked the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. Great celebrations and jaw-dropping pageantries were held throughout China. Guess who rained on this Parade?

On October 2nd, an odious article in content and timing about the spectre of a blot in the present Government's rise to power in China appeared in a leading newspaper in Wasp Land.

This article reported on very heart-wrenching episodes that purportedly occurred in a certain part of China in the second half of 1948, sixty-one years ago. At around that time, probably there were many other similarly heart-wrenching stories in other parts of China held by the alternate govenment then of the Nationalists and those atrocities perpetrated by the cruel Japanese occupiers only just some years earlier.

Probably around the world, at that time, all over Asia, Africa and South America, untold sufferings and miseries were inflicted for one reason or another or other tragedies just broke out for no other reason than a change of the signs the times - culural or religious boundaries shifted, new Warlords ascended to power, etc, etc.

This writer of the article chose that particular part of China at that particular time and published on the 2nd October just a day after the Big Day for China and prideful Chinese throughout the world, for what and whose agenda? Not only that. Probably writing in the comfort of his New York abode, understanding only his millieu of advance civillization of the 21st Century where every thing is well established and stable, the writer applied the high standards of decency of an advanced society in his comparisons and expectations to a wretched part of the world at a wretched time.

The writer also appeared to have trusted and relied upon interviews of rural Chinese peasants between their late 70s to mid 80s and recorded vague and emotional memories of theirs as though they were drawing their memories from erudite diaries kept by highly educated present day New Englanders.

At the time the writer referred to in 1948, the Chinese were in utter humiliation and pain and they were expected to do the correct and decent thing expected by this writer. Not only were the Japanese wreaking havoc in many parts of China, various European powers were annexing territorities and demanding trading concessions tilted to the disadvantage of the Chinese. Foremost in the mind of the Chinese then, must be the regaining of its Dignity and Pride.

I do not believe for one moment we Chinese are murderous people, as insinuated by the writer just because certain things were not done or said. If those claims were true even in some lesser way, I am sure all Chinese would regret them and ensure they will not happen again.

The writer, if not serving the agenda of Demons, should learn more about Chinese History and Life in general before ever writing again.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Great is the timing. Hot on the heels of my posting about Angels and Demons, events unfolded in a land of palpable impact by a segment of the Chinese Diaspora that emitted a pattern of a parable resembling a crucial segment of Jesus' life. This provided me an opportunity, no, not really, but, a toe-hold break to compose an opus of close to ecclesiastical proportion in a short space of time, by my standards anyway.

No, not really. Just a vain and shallow attempt to piece together local news that I do not bother with most of the time and connect them, wherever and whenever they seem to fit even awkwardly, to startling revelations in the Sciptures and Wasp Theology of which I am an inchoate follower. Think thus of the possibilities of things that can go wrong with this topic I am attempting. Will it finally provoke some comments? Come on fellas.

What is not important is how accurate or well researched this story is, but, in making the attempt to write it, I, as promised, am revealing the nature of an authentic Chinese as adulterated by ubiquitous Wasp influence. What is important here therefore is about me being true to the Mission and Objective of this Blog, to bare all as a Chinese.

Vanity and shallowness run in my blood. I know at this juncture a lot of Chinese will want to disown me and deny that they share my blood or my roots. Humbleness is not our strong suit. I just thought that since I am talking about Jesus who is Humbleness, the point is relevant here (so, calm down fellows, don't bring out the choppers).

Just because I managed to string the words "Angels", "Demons" and "Jesus" together, I am laying claims to an epic of ecclesiastical proportion that will unfold here. You know that is not going to happen, I am merely being Chinese. Why am I telling you this? Because I am tired of Western journalists that go into deep and remote parts of China and interview some old fuddy duddy Chinese character with an axe to grind and embellished memories as fed and rewarded by the slanted agenda of the journalist and presented back in their powerful news media at home as the gospel truth.

This Chinese who is probably more vain, shallow and capable of outrageous claims is trusted and relied upon to tell the Western journalist the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Sorry, I got carried away, but, this would be helpful background to stories I would like to tell later on, on this Blog. Back to our titled story.

The history of China must be peppered with characters who could be considered to have some aspects of their lives that manifested similarity in pattern but not in intensity to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. These stories can be picked out from various journals and publications.

The latest Chinese Jesus can be found on the land that fervently advertises itself as "truly Asia" to attract tourists. What exactly that means I am not sure. China, India, Japan and other Asian countries are somehow by the implication of this advertisement not truly Asia, but only this land is.

This land used to speak the King's or Queen's English as the case may be depending on which gender sits on the throne of England at the time, but after undergoing moronic social engineering trysts, makes an international fool of itself with a worldwide advert that claims only itself as truly Asia. I guess the other countries in Asia are truly European, truly African, truly American or truly Australian or truly whatever.

We are then an Asia of One country only? This "One" thing is an "in" thing in this land to cover up for the fact that we have so many sets of "double-standards". The moronic social engineering has made us or is meant to make us lose our bearings and perhaps our marbles as well.

Any land given to social engineering will soon produce injustice, what more, moronic social engineering. You get the picture? This land is so riped with injustices that it is really fertile for a saviour or more to come along.

From the most unexpected quarters, Jesus who was heralded to come as the King of the Jews came from the most humble of beginnings, born on a manger and grew up the hard life of a carpenter's son. The latest Chinese Jesus also came from the most unexpected source, but, in a paradoxically opposite direction - a powerful, rich and corruption-tainted political party.

This Chinese Jesus, like Jesus, broke with tradition and tried to take on the Chinese Pharisees and Chinese Sanhedrins in this land and shared very much the same fate as Jesus did but in a political sense. This Chinese Jesus who boldly spoke up and pursued vigorously what was good for the country and people was politically maligned, humilated and is now close to political death.

His crime is that he spoke, even when he was speaking the truth that is good for the country and the common folks. As a Chinese, he forgot to be inscrutable and paid the ultimate price.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

To be sure, the Chinese finds the WASP World full of Angels and Demons and I guess to a certain extent vice versa. But, there is one huge difference. The opportunities for these encounters are very much at the initiations of the WASP with the Chinese in a passive reacting role, by and large. Partly to do with the inscrutability and other dysfunctional traits, I am sorry to say, that I will talk about in this blog.

Wasp (I have for the ease of reference reduced the description to a simple word from now on) idealisms have galvanized a global crusading class of self-anointed do-gooders and world-improvers. This is a noble development except for the limitations which are the limitations of our human brains' functional capabilities.

For its easy and efficient functioning, our brains have not come very far away from our hunting and foraging days. Our brains prefer to generalize, find easy and convenient connections and are riddled with prejudices and other preconditionings, in its default and cruising mode. This is good enough to survive and procreate in the hunting and foraging environment that we had been used to for ages.

Our brains along with everything else that follow an evolutionary path, evolve in bursts and long unexplained stoppages. I guess we have been in this long stoppage spell for some time and our brain functioning is not quite in sync with our present global social millieu, giving rise to a great deal of cross-cultural frictions and pain.

Especially between the two mammoth Cultural Blocks, the Chinese and the Wasp, G2. Despite our brains' shortcomings as described, the Beauty and Greatness found in the interactions of these two Cultural Blocks are the avenues they have delibrately forged (overcoming the default and cruise option) to seek and nurture cooperation and collaboration which I had talked about in my last posting on this blog, The Tango.

I find that the do-gooders and world-improvers who focus on specific situations and are patiently committed and compassionate to their beliefs tend to do a good job and produce timeless results on which even much better things in future are capable of being built.

On the other hand, the do-gooders and world-improvers who have general universal ideals and expect their glory-gifts to the world to be achieved in one quick fell swoop, whatever differing local pre-existing conditions present, tend to come off as menancing hypocrites, however good their intentions.

This scenario has given me a real understanding of the maxim "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". I leave you to imagine what it is like the road to hell the Chinese are made to take everytime this second category of Wasps rain good intentions on them.

The first category of Wasp as mentioned would pose as the Angels and the second the Demons to the Chinese Civillization and to other Civillizations too, I reckon.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Looking around the world, remarkable achievements in a unique sense can be found whenever fortuitous circumstances brought together collaborations between the Chinese and the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant). Eminent examples are Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Sydney, Vancouver and San Francisco, and pockets of Chinatowns in major WASP cities.

Premier Zhu of China once said at the turn of the 21st Century, when you see how successful Chinese people have been in Singapore and Taiwan, and indeed the USA it would be ironic if they could not be successful in their own country. I see in this recognition of Zhu, the incredible productive chemistry that can blossom when innate Chinese talents operate in a WASP's values environment and other infrastructures.

China is painfully aware of the adjustments it has to make to its values system and infrastructures before the country can fully take off. These adjustments have to be made wisely and gradually to preserve the stability of such a hugely populated and diverse country. It obviously does not want to experience the break-up that Russia suffered in pursuing its adjustments too ambitiously.

The most remarkable Chinese/WASP collaboration on the cuurent world stage can be pinned on the status of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. The focus is on Hong Kong in this discussion as Macau merely replicated the terms when its turn to return sovereignity to China fell due after Hong Kong's.

When Hong Kong's lease to the British as a concession of the Opium Wars was nearing expiration in 1997, there was great anxiety amongst the residents of Hong Kong as to their future. The well to do residents were squirreling their wealth to safer havens not only in the form of investments but in standby abodes as well in case they had to flee at short notice. This may sound paranoid now, but back then it was commonsense precaution. This reflected on the mood based on the perception of reality of those times or perhaps on the success of Western propaganda weaved around a Communist Ogre.

The annexation of Hong Kong and other concessionaires throughout China by various Western Powers after the Opium Wars was a great humiliation for China. It was therefore expected that when these territories were returned, some form of retribution would take place against those who had amassed their fortunes and favoured positions through selling out their support and loyalty to the foreign powers.

The wondrous beauty in this Hong Kong SAR arrangement is the collaboration of parties who were once bitter enemies, but in respecting the expediencies of the times, they were able to work out compromises that were quite honourable under the circumstances of the parties' differing cultures and priorities.

This says a great deal of the tremendously bright possibilities that can benefit the entire world when two major civiilizations can cooperate in this way, setting aside their belligerent past and bruised pride for the betterment of the future.

There is definitely something special and uplifting in Chinese/WASP collaborations around the world and I hope the discourse on this subject will always be enthusiastically pursued and we can contribute our share here.

Monday, September 7, 2009

At the time I was borned, suffice to say for the moment, more than half a century ago, Western ferment of ideas was at full froth and had been the case for some time. This cerebral advantage gave them a commanding lead in intellectual, industrial and technological developments resulting in their superior and dominating influences over the world in just about almost every field.

Many minor civilizations throughout the world stood no chance against the onslaught of the overwhelming Western influences and succumbed to them. Two behemoth civilizations escaped similar annihilations through their sheer numbers and dispersion, and strong cultural anchors. They are the Indian and the Chinese civilizations.

From their vantage point, Western powers driven by their innately hegemonic instincts would not and could not leave the Indian and Chinese civilizations alone. Also, the world is getting smaller. The fact that these two had not succumbed so completely in the manner as the others had done so made the powers that be take notice of these two's special qualities and intensified their curiousity and ambitions over them.

India was colonized and China was subjected to all sorts of jabbing and prying to open itself up. Save for the intelligentsia percolated by the British adventure in India of whom I have quoted a tiny few in my Blog description above, I feel I am only qualified in knowledge and experience to handle mainly the conundrums wih regard to China and the Chinese.

I would like to open up myself and share with the world my knowledge and experience in the hope to lessen the Chinese Conundrum that sometimes baffles our fellow Earth Dwellers. One person in five on Earth is a Chinese and this Conundrum still largely persists. The buzz today is that in the 21st Century only two countries will matter the most, the G2, United States and China. For the sake of the whole world, the Chinese needs to disrobe more of its furtive enigmas.

Hence, as the naked Chinese I will bare all that is possible in my narratives that will unfurl in this Blog. Friends from around the Globe, please guide me with your wisdom and feed my motivation in this Journey.